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okay so after recently getting my new aviary i've got two neighbourhood cats hanging about constantly. They're not really harming the birds but it's not a great enviroment for them either. One usually sits at the base of the aviary, the other on top, just staring at the potential meals.

What can I do about this? Are there anti-cat sprays or something I can lace around the area?

So far i've tried squirting them with the hose. Done it quite a few times now, they're back within 15 minutes.

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put the hose on them or do what i did, between my neighbour and myself there are 10 avairies and our cats dont care about the birds but there was a cat in the area that did care but that cat has disappeared. trap it then take to pound problem solved

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get a dog!!! haha problem solved :bluebudgie: na i have no idea i have dogs so my three cats dont venture out back very often... but it's definatly an effective method there'd be something cats dont like to sprinkle around the area i'm sure... we have one for our dogs we put in the garden... it's cytronella jelly crystals... might work for cats too?

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There are sprinklers that work on motion sensors. Also some fine bird netting of the type they use over fruit trees....if strategically placed may cause enough of a nuisance to the cats to get them out of the habit. Another friend criss crosses fishing line around some garden stakes so the cats have trouble getting through. Yet others have rigged up little electrical fencing systems but thats going too far although with losses in birds some may feel it necessary. Our cats dont bother anymore as they have been frightened off too many times now and the bird chasing has lost its appeal.

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I know how you feel! We have so many cats in my street and no-one brings them in at night. It makes me so angry!

I have tried deterring them by putting that smelly anti-cat jelly stuff around the aviary but of course you have to do it regularly...

I have also mixed up a paste of pepper and chilli powder but that dries up after a couple of days.

There was one particular cat that kept coming back even though I chase them away every time. I seriously considered trapping it but Im not sure where to get a trap from.

So if anyone has any other ideas I would also be interested!

* I am limited in how I can keep cats away as my aviary is on pavement, but close enough to the next level of the garden for the cats to jump on the aviary. Hard to explain! Im working on mum to get a dog- we never had a cat problem when we had my old dog!

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We use to have heaps of cats come around to try to annoy the birds in the aviary and the thing that hurt the most was that if would effect their breeding abilitly as they were scared. Eventually I found out who the cats belonged to and put a nice letter (not nasty just a polite letter) asking them to keep there cats inside of thier yards. I clearly explained to them why and the fact that if it were a dog the pound would collect her/him straight away. I further told them that if they could not contain thier cat that I would be forced to hire a cat trap from the council and they would than need to pay for a collection fee to pick her/him up from the coucil pound. I have not had any problems since. It must be one of my pet hates that dogs must be registered and kept in the yard and if they're not the council comes down on you like a block of bricks while cats are free to roam around and do as they please. I'm not sure weather I am correct but I think there is now a law that has been brought in to say that cats must be locked indoors at night. Might be wrong on that one but if I am I think there should be for both our wildlife and the cat's safety.

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We havent had any stray cats in our yard since we had our dogs. Prior to this, the neighbourhood cats would ALWAYS be found at our birds. We have 3 cats of our own, but once the novelty of the birds wore off and the fact that they got chastised severely if our cats went "at" the birds, we have no more problems from our own cats and our birds

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Guest lonebudgie

Guest lonebudgie

Enclose the avairy , roof over the top , shade cloth the sides , build a safety walk section across the front , Birds happy cats cannot get them , You can sleep at night and the cats can do what they like. :rip:

I have sprayed that around my native trees as it keeps the dogs off the garden and also works well with possums. so you can try spraying that around or near the birds. However I would be careful as I am not sure if it is harmful to birds.

However I am not sure the effect on the birds as there is nothing about it on the site but I do know someone who uses it to keep cats away from her place as she is really allergic.

Other options are electric wiring which you can get in kits but that is a little extreme. If you are going to go down this path then I would suggest getting the wide white tape wire instead of the thin metal wire. This way it would only need to be on for around a week and then it is viable enough that you can turn it off but it is still a deterant. (works really well with Horses and dog as well)

The water option, get a super soaker as this can just be picked up and does emit a large amount of water without having to fiddle around with a hose etc... and give the cat time to get away.